Woody Allen Stubs Out ‘Blue Jasmine’ in India Over Anti-Smoking Laws

Woody Allen’s "Blue Jasmine" is getting stubbed out in India. In Allen’s 1995 movie “Bullets Over Broadway,” playwright David Shayne declares: “I won’t change a word of my play to pander to some commercial Broadway audience.”

Like his character, Mr. Allen is not one to compromise his artistic vision. He decided not to show his latest film, “Blue Jasmine,” in India rather than add legally required anti-smoking messages to two scenes.

PVR Pictures Ltd., the Indian distributor of “Blue Jasmine,” said the 78-year-old director considered the required additions – written warnings that appear on screen during scenes with smoking – unacceptable.

The latest statement from MPAA, published in 2007, said that when rating a film they would take into account whether smoking is pervasive or glamorized whether there is a historical or mitigating context for showing tobacco use. But it would not issue a mandatory “R” rating on films showing smoking.

In a report in November 2012, the Public Health Foundation of India said Indian adolescents “exposed to tobacco use in Bollywood movies are more likely to be tobacco users.” India’s film industry produces almost double the number of movies produced in Hollywood, the report said.